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Liberal Losers

Possible Satire Warning Activated: Basic Level 1
The Heretik would like to thank Tom Tomorrow  for his insight into what losers liberals are when they are not out pretending to be busy as they run America into the ground.  (America is holy ground, except for the area around the fire where liberals gather and burn all things good and true.)  When losing liberals caught on the wrong side of history go up against a conservative collosus like the Lord of the Loofah, Bill ("Shut up, Shut up") O'Reilly, they are so very screwed.  When Little Sean "Insanity" Hannity takes his dribbling to the floor, the Liberals are nailed to that floor unmoving in the face of the hijinks (hijinks?). 

With Coach Limbaugh taking splinters but no prisoners on the bench, with attack cheerleader Ann Coldsore raising the blood pressure of Buckleys Chris and Bill sitting in the stands,  the lackie liberals  are lost  on a court with no appeal.  Liberals  are the Washington  Generals to the conservatives' Harlem Globetrotters.  What freedom loving losers  those  liberals are. The Washington Generals never won  a game.  Liberals always at the door way of the gym: Losers today, losers tomorrow, losers forever!

What Happens If the Terrorist You Caught Isn't The Terrorist You Thought?

The Heretik asks what indeed?  What if that guy you just beat the life out of  isn't a bad guy at all?  Couldn't be, could it?  If there is one thing you are good at, it's spotting a bad guy.  So you load "the bad guy" off to Abu, or ship him to Gitmo where he can gitmo of an asskicking.  Maybe "the bad guy" gets "rendered" to a friendly country that isn't a tyranny, but just does some freelance torturing  for some uptown friends.  Maybe you just let him hang by his thumbs with the CIA as a "ghost detainee," a man with out a number nor a name. 

Hell has special halls for all knowing few who would put an uncharged good man through hell on earth.

Bob Herbert of the New York Times has written powerfully of the corrosive effects inhuman treatment has on both the victims and the perpetrators,  the so called good and bad guys both.

Now the Heretik reporting from the mouth of hell must ask the good guys about the bad guys.  While you have kept all these bad guys incommunicado in the  gulag ghosttowns hidden from the light of the sun and prying eyes, is it possible you may have made just one mistake?

Couldn't be, could it?

Check what Bob Herbert has to say in The NY Times about "Shafiq Rasul, who was released from Guantánamo about a year ago. His story is instructive, and has not been told widely enough.

Mr. Rasul was one of three young men, all friends, from the British town of Tipton who were among thousands of people seized in Afghanistan in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001. They had been there, he said, to distribute food and medical supplies to impoverished Afghans."

Shafiiq Rasul: good guy or bad guy?  Right guy, wrong time, wrong place?  If we don't committ to doing right every time, even when times are tough, The Heretik knows the number of wrong times and wrong places will only grow until we find the wrong place and the wrong time are next door and now.

The Heretik also thinks it is worth pointing out that respect for the law should not be the first thing stepped on when freedom is on the march.  The U.S. Constitution should not be the first thing lit up by the fire of freedom.  More than any gun, adherence to our principles will make  people free.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Poets

Words fail.  Picture from the NY Times through Jeanne D'Arc at Body and Soul.

Heresy # 12

Digby, Orcinus, and Yglesias are onto Heresy #12.

9/11 Changed Everything

Possible Oversimplification Warning Activated: Basic Level 1 

Why The Heretik Is Condemned To Report From the Mouth of Hell

Tastess Warning Activated: Dirt Level 1
The Heretik knows he belongs at his post in hell because he has control issues.   Struggle as he might, The Heretik always takes things out of context. Out of the water, snark attack now.  Here's Bush in Tampa:

There is a group of folks fixing to retire -- a big bulge of us.

That brave woman "voted and flew over to represent her country in Laura's box."

Repeat, repeat, repeat: I will control myself, I will control myself, I will control myself someday.
. 

Bush in His Own Words 001

From Salon through Digby:

As his Social Security roadshow pulled into Tampa, Fla., over the weekend, Bush was asked how his plan would ensure that Social Security won't run out of money down the road. Here, straight from the White House Web site, is the president's answer in its entirety:

"Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to what has been promised.

"Does that make any sense to you? "

The Heretik regrets that the answer to the President's question is no.  The President continued on with his straightforward, moral clarity.

"It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red."

Solve the red?  Help the red?   The Heretik is uncertain what the red is.  Could be a bad rash.  The Heretik hopes it is not contagious.

"Okay, better? I'll keep working on it."

The Heretik can now sleep more easily.

Girls Gone Wild

The Heretik does not believe this is the beginning of the Apocalypse.

Bitter Laughter

In this Caustic Age of Bitter Laughter, The Heretik realizes that he who holds the blowtorch of satire is often the one who gets burned.

The Heretik would also like to warn his minions that when someone tells you you need to have more of a sense of humor, that person is actually congratulating himself for his own sense of humor and telling you you have none.

Recently I commented on some issues at The Washington Monthly about some current issues:

Who controls the terms discussed controls the results. Insane terms, insane results.

Iraq:War is Peace.
The Great Social Security Crisis: 1+1=11.
Gonzales: Torture the language so you can torture the people.

We must light the fire of freedom by putting a match to the Constitution. Warm yourselves at the fire and sing a nice camp fire song.

Now get back to work."

The previous typical comments from The Heretik occasionally known as Jove got this response:

"Wow!

You wrote: "We must light the fire of freedom by putting a match to the Constitution. "

I come here to have some fun, express myself, and have a good exhange that is completely at odds with most here. It's all done with respect, but with a healthy dose of sacrasm, back and forth. But this...I'm speachless. You actually advocate torching the Constitution? Really? If so you are more dangerous than any post I have seen here or anywhere else. That goes beyond expressing opinions, or exercising an exchange of ideas. You are truely a dangerous, perilous, person. I fear people like you."

You can see the full response and thread continue here.

The Heretik applauds Gary for the fire of his convictions because if we don't hold that fire in our hands, we alone will get burnt.

Now get back to work.

It Could Be Worse

Greetings Again to All the Minions in the Midst of Mass Hysteria:
In these days since Bush's Kiss of Death to Social Security and even worse the Kiss of Lieberman, The Heretik has become aware of how hard all these large numbers are clunking on  people's heads. The Heretik sympathizes with all those under fiftyfive soon to be geezers getting hot and bothered about lost benefits. Remember you still have the benefit of teeth that can chew.  You will need those good teeth because you will be eating more crap soon.

It could be worse. (Don't you hate it when The Righteous say that?).  Somebody says it could be worse, I tell them they better get the hell away from me.  Of course they can't get the hell away from me  because here I am.  I am the Heretik, reporting from the mouth of hell.